During a recent trip to New York, I learned a major lesson in marketing. And no, not from any of the overwhelming number of ads crowding Times Square, but from a small deli. While eating “Ah, There’s the Reuben” at the Carnegie Deli, I realized how the principle of this small deli can be applied to businesses, large and small, across all industries.

The Carnegie Deli stands out from hundreds of other New York delis. It is one of New York’s most popular attractions, yet shockingly, it doesn’t spend any money advertising. The Carnegie Deli has succeeded not because of a great gimmick or creative advertising campaigns, but because of a phenomenal business principle:

Do one thing and do it better than everyone else.

The Carnegie Deli has been recognized for its corned beef and pastrami sandwiches by numerous columnists, avid eaters, and travellers from all over the world.

• While many delis bring meat in from other suppliers, the Carnegie Deli cures its own meat.
• While other delis take shortcuts smoking the meat, Carnegie Deli does it the old-fashioned way to give it the best flavour.
• While other delis manipulate the size of their sandwiches by their methods of stacking the meat, the Carnegie Deli continues to make its sandwiches larger and larger (its sandwiches range from five- to eight-and-a-half inches tall).

The word of mouth created by the Carnegie Deli has generated more publicity than any print ad or billboard ever could.

Put your effort into making sure your one thing is better than your competitors’. The spontaneous conversations you create could become your sole form of advertising.

I recently shared my ideas on the concept of confidence accumulation and its importance to cultivating referrals to some of my peers at a TEN luncheon.

We know that referrals are one of the most powerful drivers of business development (marketing giant Nike says that the vast majority of its business is from referrals). We also know that the science behind promoting good referrals involves creating a good experience, and to create a good experience you need to manage your touch points—not all your touch points though, only those that are important to your target market.

But how exactly do positive experiences at relevant touch points translate into referrals? Why is it that 100 good touch points can be ruined by 1 mediocre one?

One way to think about referrals is through the concept of accumulation.

In order for potential clients to decide to do business with you, to actually reach into their pockets and pull out their wallets, they need to feel confident that what they’re going to receive in exchange for their money is of equal value. There needs to be a certain level of confidence on their part, in your product or service. What’s more, that level of required confidence varies depending on the product or service. Common commodities like toothpaste or shampoo have a lower threshold of confidence that must be reached than, say, consulting services or a more significant product like a car or home.

For someone to refer your company, an accumulation of confidence also needs to occur—and perhaps even more so, because a referral reflects back on the person who gave it.

Here’s the connection: each touch point either adds to or detracts from that confidence.

This is why managing each touch point is so crucial, and also why some touch points should be weighted heavier than others. (How do you know which touch points to focus on? Survey your customers.)

For instance, a web-savvy consumer checks out a company’s website (one of his highly valued touch points) before going to the store to purchase something. If the website is terrible, he may not even go into the store because the amount of confidence lost in his interaction with this crucial touch point could be too much to recover.

On the other hand, another consumer might place more value in the appearance and manner of the company’s staff, and not care at all about the website.

The point is, think of your company’s touch points, think about the ones that matter most to your target, and then figure out how to make them confidence builders, not confidence detractors. It’s also important to make sure there aren’t any inconsistencies between your touch points, because inconsistency is one of the most detrimental factors to the accumulation of confidence.

People always think that good customer service is enough to generate referrals. But what does that mean exactly? Responsiveness? Expertise? Look and feel? In fact, someone’s willingness to refer your business is based on an accumulation of confidence over multiple touch points.

My buddy Mike likes to go to the Canadian Finals Rodeo to check out the horses. I think it’s a testosterone thing personally. (There’s nothing like a powerful, grunting, crap-where-he-wants-to, cowboy-eating stallion to bring out the man in a man; it makes us feel tough.) I’ve tagged along from time to time to meet the horses and I’ll tell you what (add in John Wayne accent here for effect), I’ve never met a horse that didn’t tell me he was the best.

During the chuckwagon races, I like to go down to the stables and talk to the horses before I make my big bet (Mike and I are high rollers—loser pays for beer). Walking down the long line of thoroughbreds, I see similar colours and sizes and hear similar grunting tones. And, it’s always the same story, “Hey man, bet on me—I promise I’ll get you to the finish line. I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve won a lot of races. Check this saddle out—this thing is lighter than a feather and feels like velvet! All my jockeys love me—look at the testimonials! I won’t let you down—let’s do this thing. Sign here. Let’s make fools out of these other asses!”

It often reminds me of a typical sales ad: “Choose us! We’re the best. We’ve been around forever. We’ll get you to the finish line.” It also reminds me of the recent cold caller who somehow got past our almost impenetrable gatekeeping system, “Tell you what, sign up for a week. I won’t let you down. We guarantee the best service in our industry—let’s do this!”

Do you want to know what my first reaction is every time I’m confronted with a horse? It’s probably the same as yours and every other buyer we’ve interviewed over the past decade—pure SKEPTICISM.

We don’t trust the horse.

But here’s the kicker, we ARE the horse. Every time we pick up the phone and cold-call a prospect, send a cold prospect some direct mail, or place an advertisement that explains why we’re the best, we’re the horse. Every time we make a statement to a prospect that attempts to differentiate ourselves from our competitors (e.g., we provide great service!)—we’re the horse.

Based on our extensive research, it’s worse today than it ever has been. There’s just too many Herb Tarlics out there screwing it up for the rest of us. As global competition for buyer mindshare increases, the future looks even bleaker.

This trend doesn’t bode well for direct marketers, traditional advertisers, and cold callers. So, what should we do? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Don’t act like a horse. Don’t handle objections, don’t talk about your “value proposition,” and don’t slam your competitors. Interrupt the pattern. Successful sales people and advertisers have found ways to change the game without sounding like the horse.
2. Leverage the jockey. The jockey. That’s who we turn to in order to REALLY determine which horse to bet on. It’s a fact that 90% of successful companies in Western Canada (B2B and B2C) claim referrals are their best source of new business. We TRUST the jockey.
3. Sell your knowledge, not your proposition. “Listen, just like every other horse here, I’m a horse. Do you have any questions about horses or race tracks or horse shoes? Anything that would be helpful to know more about?”

New strategies are required in this skeptical age, an age that is fraught with horses competing for your buyer’s mindshare.